Bishop wrote the rules of backgammon, though he’s too modest to say so. “It was definitely a joint project, like most things,” he says, laughing about his lead role on the U.S. Backgammon Federation’s 2016 committee that codified the rules for tournament play. It had never been done before. 

Bishop’s love of the ancient board game began in Rome’s airport in the 1970s. As an 11-year-old he approached a couple playing the game and asked if he could join them. Bishop had just learned the rules on his family’s vacation in Afghanistan. The chance encounter set into motion a lifetime of strategy—and luck—for Bishop, now a San Diego attorney.

The game of bridge was his “first love,” he explains. As a boy he competed in tournaments with his mother. “Once I got married and we had our first child, bridge took up too much of my time,” says Bishop. So he gave up the cards. In 1993 his law partner sold Bishop a backgammon book out of the trunk of his car, reintroducing him to the board game. “I foolishly thought this would be another hobby,” he says. But it became much more.

Soon he earned the title “backgammon master,” which means he is exceptionally skilled at the game, and on the Internet Backgammon Database his profile lists him as a “world class” player. In 2015 Bishop won the American Backgammon Tour, which he calls “the pinnacle of tournament play.” He then spent four years on the board of the U.S. Backgammon Federation.

The former assistant U.S. attorney in the Southern District of California believes backgammon makes him a sharper lawyer. “It seems to be a very simple game at first blush, but it becomes extremely complex and scientific. That’s what makes it so beautiful.”